Sydney didn't just survive South East Melbourne's extraordinary opening burst on Sunday. The Kings absorbed a 21-point first-quarter deficit, took the lead by half-time and finished 110–99 winners at Afterpay Arena, returning to the top of the NBL27 ladder at 8–3. A Phoenix side that hit seven three-pointers in the first five minutes had made the start look almost impossible to waste. Sydney made them pay for what happened after it.
The visitors raced to 21–2 in barely three minutes and 30–9 midway through the first quarter. Nathan Sobey was firing, the Phoenix were running into clean outside looks and Sydney's defence had no early answers. Yet the Kings closed the term on a 19–8 run. Instead of allowing a disastrous opening to define the afternoon, they made the contest about the next possession. South East Melbourne still led 38–28 at quarter-time, but the tone had shifted.
Sydney won the second quarter 26–13, holding the Phoenix to four makes from 16 field-goal attempts and one from nine beyond the arc. That's the real hinge of this comeback. The Kings didn't need to match an unsustainable shooting barrage; they needed to stop giving South East Melbourne the same rhythm. Torrey Craig had 13 points by half-time and Will Johnston supplied 12 as Sydney reached the main break 54–51 ahead. The NBL's official game report details how sharply the scoring balance reversed.
Kendric Davis took command in the third quarter, adding 12 points and three assists in the period before finishing with 28 points and nine assists. Craig delivered 23 points, five rebounds and three blocks, while Xavier Cooks' 15 points and 14 rebounds gave Sydney another reliable source of possessions. The Kings had turned that early 30–9 deficit into an 83–70 lead at the last change. From the moment the Phoenix reached their 21-point advantage, Sydney had outscored them 74–40 by three-quarter-time.
Sobey refused to let the visitors disappear. He finished with 33 points, six rebounds and four assists, hitting six of 11 threes, and dragged the Phoenix within four midway through the final term. But Sydney answered with eight straight points, capped by a Makuach Maluach dunk. Maluach's 14 points, three steals and two blocks mattered at both ends, while the returning Matthew Dellavedova played 17 minutes and contributed seven points and four assists.
For South East Melbourne, the result is a warning about how little a spectacular five minutes counts without a dependable half-court attack behind it. The Phoenix finished 4–7 despite Sobey's season-best scoring effort. Skylar Mays managed two points on one-of-seven shooting in 11 minutes, leaving a significant creation gap once Sydney tightened the screws. Their pre-match form and shooting split had already highlighted how much their wins depended on perimeter efficiency; Sunday's opening and subsequent collapse put that dependence on full display.
The Kings, meanwhile, showed why their defence can carry them through ugly stretches. They didn't erase the opening deficit with one miraculous shot. They forced the Phoenix into a succession of tougher trips, got timely offence from several players and trusted Davis to organise the decisive stretch. Sydney travel to Cairns on Friday, while the Phoenix host Illawarra in Wednesday's Ignite Cup game. One side leaves Sunday on top; the other has to work out how a 30–9 start became an 11-point defeat.
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